Michel Anthony - Sculptor

FEET ON THE BRONZE AND HEAD IN THE COLORS

"My sculptures dress up shapes." Self-taught citizen of the world, Michel Anthony summarizes in a few words his artistic vision - personal and coherent, against all odds, and nothing seems to predispose this sailor to become an artist... Let's have a quick look at his life. At the age of 8, Michel Anthony was harvesting rubber in the Hevea fields of Malaysia. Modest family, hard life, small jobs... His ambition pushed him to quickly leave Malaysia to sail the South Seas. "My inspiration comes from the deep within as well as my time on the boats and travels." He became a professional skipper and ran a sport-fishing agency in Ceylon. All the colors of the sea he will find again a few years later in Milan with Ken Scott, an American artist who became a fashion designer who revolutionized the Italian fashion in the 1970's.

Ken Scott is the magician behind "Flower Power" and his bright colors will be the staple of his creations. Michel Anthony was Ken Scott's first assistant in charge of the color palette. He mixed colors by hand, designed the fabrics that will be used to dress up prestigious women like Brigitte Bardot, Princess Durusheva and Jackie Kennedy... And still taking classes of the fine arts of Brera and the School of Castello in Milan. "Of my experiences in the fashion world, I kept my taste for clothing and mix and match colors. My sculptures give shape to the void." His first sculptures were created at that time, the abstractions that he keeps on doing today by mixing colors and geometrical shapes.

To dedicate himself entirely to sculpture, Michel Anthony decides to leave Milan and settles down in Nice. Bronze sculpture demands not only artistic qualities, but also an impeccable realization. After some less satisfying experiments, Michel Anthony, decides to find a foundry to match his expectations and his technical demands. In Pietrasanta, Italy near Carrare, he found the very famous foundry, Massimo Del Chiaro, where Botero and many famous international artists work. The bronze in this foundry has qualities that don't exist anywhere else. But not everybody can work at Del Chiaro. The demand exceeds the production capabilities of the foundry. With his passion, Michel Anthony knocks on the door of the foundry. The owner sensing a real talent gives him the keys to this paradise.

His first sculpture wins first prize in a European contest in Nice in 2005. Many more awards like the prize of the jury for the sculpture "Eagle of Nice" will follow. In his atelier in the old town of Nice, Michel Anthony continues to create and honors the wishes of his private or public collectors in Malaysia, Japan or Italy. Without any doubt there is an Anthony style: cosmic, light, and symbolic. "I do a sketch with paper and pencil, and I paint it on the canvas and then I do a plaster replica. If the technique is traditional, the one involving wax, my influences are American:Ken Scott, of course, but also Susan Nevelson and Sylvia Braverman"

Michel Anthony was born in Perak, Malaysia. He lives and works in Nice.

More referenses on his work, events, design, exhibitions, you find at:

www.anthonymichel.com